QUESTION:
12/18/2008: Follow-up to your answer on the Dormition of the Theotokos. You say it's not a dogma, but maybe you could define how you're using the term "dogma" here. It would be rather silly for modern day Orthodox Christians to deny the Theotokos' death and resurrection owing to the universality and antiquity of the Church's witness to this event. If a movement arose in the Orthodox Catholic Churches which vainly attempted to deny this event in our salvation history, don't you think a council could/would be convened to defend this ecclesiastical truth? |
ANSWER:
This is a good question. Here, dogma means a fact/belief that if denied or deformed would destroy the saving gospel and endanger not only one's salvation but also the ability of the Church to function as witness to Christ.
From an Orthodox perspective, the only absolutely authoritative dogmas were those proclaimed by the Ecumenical Councils (1) That Jesus Christ is not created (2) That the Holy Spirit is the Lord, worshiped and glorified with the Father and the Spirit (3) That the Christ is one divine hypostasis having two natures - human and divine (4) that Jesus was "theon ek theou from" his conception (not a mere human later adopted by the Father), which is why Mary can be called theotokos (5-6) that the Lord had two wills (7) that icons are allowed and indeed necessary in the Church because God is iconic (Christ is the "ikon of the Father") and the great icon maker.
As we can see, these dogmas deal with God revealed and worshiped in the Trinity. Even the term "theotokos" is not a Marian title, it is Christological in nature and intent.
This being said, yes, it would be unusual and as you say silly to attack the beliefs expressed in the Feast of Dormition, and a Council could in theory confirm this doctrine (one may argue then that it would be a doctrine more than a dogma. It should be said, finally, that earliest accounts of the Dormition are from the 5th century, and the best source on this topic is:
Shoemaker, Stephen J (2002). Ancient traditions of the Virgin Mary's dormition and assumption. |
